It is desirable in confined space areas, such as modern studio apartments, to have a sofa bed which takes up a minimum of floor space both in the seating and bed modes. It is also desirable by occupants of such apartments to outlay a relatively small expenditure of money in order to get the functions of individual pieces of furniture. It is also desirable that the sofa bed construction minimize the complexity of the mechanical elements needed to convert from a sofa to a bed.
Heretofore, most such sofa bed combinations have employed extremely complicated conversion mechanisms, which were susceptible to jamming, and further susceptible to possibly injuring the person who is making the conversion since, in many cases, the mechanisms such as linkages are exposed.
The prior art sought to alleviate some of the aforesaid problems but to date have not been entirely successful.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,177, to A. Lorenz, et al, discloses a combined sofa seat and bed which employs a three part back and seat cushion which through complex linkages ultimately converts into a flat bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,995, to M. C. Jenkins, shows a combination sofa bed which, when the couch is converted to a bed, causes the bed portion to extend beyond the confines of the couch portion and thus takes up much more space than the couch portion itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,492, to A. A. Hopeman, Jr., et al, discloses a combined folding bed and seat which is based on a complex mechanism which may be prone to jamming.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,730, to J. Polatsek, discloses a convertible davenport which is power operated. A two-part back is moved in a track by a power drive from a sofa back to a bed, with the seat concommitantly moved. The bed is cantilevered over the sofa frame.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,598, to S. Zimmerspitz, describes a convertible seat and couch unit which when the bed portion is brought into position causes the bed to extend outside of the confines of the couch portion, thereby taking up more space than the couch portion alone.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,327, to E. Nadich, describes a sofa bed in which a bed is underneath the seat and the seat and back portion are move out of the way to permit the bed portion to come into position when the bed is to be used. This mechanism requires several complex levers and arms.